Trio arrested on burglary charges

Police spot the suspects entering the home of a man they had just lodged in jail on drug charges

Police say a few hours after drug investigators arrested a suspected meth and heroin dealer in Medford, they spotted three people apparently burglarizing his home.

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By MANDY VALENCIA

MailTribune.com

By MANDY VALENCIA

Posted Mar. 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Mar 29, 2013 at 2:30 AM

By MANDY VALENCIA

Posted Mar. 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Mar 29, 2013 at 2:30 AM

» Social News

Police say a few hours after drug investigators arrested a suspected meth and heroin dealer in Medford, they spotted three people apparently burglarizing his home.

The Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement team served a search warrant at about 11 a.m. Wednesday at the East 12th Street home of Jeffrey Rupert, 54, seizing methamphetamines, heroin and steroids and arresting him on drug charges, police said.

At about 4 p.m. a MADGE investigator driving by the residence in the 300 block of East 12th Street saw a woman and two men peering into the home's windows, Medford police said in a news release.

The investigator said that as he watched, the woman crawled through a window and opened the front door for the two men. After a short time inside, all three left the residence carrying bags they didn't have going in, police said.

The investigator stopped Tara Lukasavage, 32, and Alexander Metcalf, 32, outside the home and a Medford officer who came to help stopped Ryan Bohnert, 33, a short distance away.

Police said the three gave conflicting stories about why they went into Rupert's home, but conceded they went there after they found out he was in jail. Police said they took an Ibanez Gio guitar and just over $32 in cash.

When investigators called the jail, Rupert said the three people didn't have his permission to be at his home or to remove anything from it, police said.

Lukasavage, who has no known address, was lodged in Jackson County Jail on a charge of first-degree burglary and remained there Thursday evening on $50,000 bail.

Metcalf, who also has no known address, was lodged in jail on charges of first-degree burglary and failure to appear on a possession of heroin charge. He remained in jail Thursday evening on $50,000 bail.

Bohnert, of the 9600 block of Blackwell Road, Central Point, was lodged in jail on charges of first-degree burglary and failure to appear on a third-degree theft charge. He remained in jail Thursday evening on $26,000 bail.

Reach reporter Mandy Valencia at 541-776-4486 or by email at avalencia@mailtribune.com.